Donald Trump’s tariffs could disrupt the supply of medicines into the UK, the health secretary has warned.
Wes Streeting said the government was “constantly watching and acting on this situation” after the US president refused to back down from the punitive policy, despite turmoil in the markets.
So far Mr Trump has imposed a series of tariffs of varying severity on countries across the world, including a 10% baseline tax on imports from all nations and a 25% levy on all cars imported to the US.
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His actions have sparked fears of a global trade war, with the UK’s benchmark stock market index, the FTSE 100, only just witnessing a slight rise this morning after three days of steep losses.
While the reciprocal tariffs have not yet included pharmaceutical products, there are concerns this could change in the near future.
Speaking to Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast, the health secretary said that even before the US president’s tariff agenda – which has seen him impose a 10% baseline tax on imports from all nations – there had been “issues with medicines production and supply internationally”.
“We are constantly watching and acting on this situation to try and get medicines into the country, to make sure we’ve got availability, to show some flexibility in terms of how medicines are dispensed, to deal with shortages,” he said.
“But whether it’s medicines, whether it’s parts for manufacturing, whether it’s… the ability of businesses in this country to turn a profit, this is an extremely turbulent situation.”
Mr Streeting, who was speaking following the announcement that the government has recruited more than 1,500 new GPs since 1 October, said the steps taken by Mr Trump were “unprecedented in terms of global trade”.
“As ever in terms of medicines, there’s a number of factors at play,” he said.
“There have been challenges in terms of manufacturing, challenges in terms of distribution, and if we start to see tariffs kicking in, that’s another layer of challenge, but we watch this situation extremely closely.
“We work on a daily basis to make sure that we have the medicine supply this country needs.”
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Sir Keir Starmer had been seeking to secure an exemption for the UK from Mr Trump’s punitive tariffs.
But last week, the UK was hit with both the 10% baseline tariff on all imports and the 25% tariff on all cars imported to the US.
The latter tariff could prove particularly damaging for the UK, owing to the fact that the US is the car sector’s largest single market by country – accounting for £6.4bn worth of car exports in 2023.
On Monday, the prime minister announced he would relax rules around electric vehicles in order to mitigate the worst effects of the US tariffs.
While the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars remains in place, regulations around manufacturing targets on electric cars and vans will be altered to help firms during the transition.
Luxury supercar firms such as Aston Martin and McLaren will still be allowed to keep producing petrol cars beyond the 2030 date, while petrol and diesel vans will also be allowed to be sold until 2035, along with hybrids and plug-in hybrid cars.
